Love note from Jeff City

Greetings, My Fellow Missourians

Nearly every year since 1975 I have attended the annual Missouri Cattleman’s Convention. This year the 52nd Annual Convention was held in Columbia. We always try to honor a member that has contributed to the founding of the association. This year Morris Westfall from Halfway, Missouri was recognized with the Pioneer Award. He has been a Mentor and Role Model to many members, including myself over the years as he was one of our Associations Founding Members. 2005 MCA President Howard Hardecke said, “Morris is no stranger to the agricultural industry, especially the beef industry, in Missouri. He has a long record of accomplishments and is a well-known, well respected and appreciated advocate for all things agriculture related.”

Also at the convention the St. Clair County Cattlemen’s Association was named Outstanding County Affiliate for expanding membership and increasing involvement at the county and state levels. St. Clair County also made strides to be more engaged with the community. The county affiliate received a Gallagher TW-3 Weigh Scale set valued at $3,600.

MCA’s Resolutions Committee amended their resolution on feral hogs to state “Whereas, the Missouri Department of Conservation is relying solely on trapping and a shooting/trapping ban on public lands has created a safe haven for feral hogs but opposes any ban on shooting/trapping feral hogs on private or public lands.” This Session I filed HB 1967 that states “Currently, any person who knowingly or recklessly releases any swine to live in the wild or possesses or transports certain live wild boar without a permit from the Department of Agriculture is guilty of a class A misdemeanor. This bill changes the penalties to a class E felony. The bill also changes the term “feral hog” to “feral swine” and specifies that any person who kills a feral swine outside without the consent of the landowner or not in compliance with certain requirements is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.”

To read the full bill visit https://house.mo.gov/bill.aspx?bill=HB1798&year=2020&code=R.

This week I was visited by a great man, Dr. James A. Noland Jr. a 94 year old WWII veteran. Dr. Noland was also a former State Representative and State Senator, a former Principal and Superintendent with his doctorate in Psychology. He is visiting the Capitol to lobby for a property tax cut for disabled veterans and was accompanied by his care-giver for disabled veterans Cindy Natal.

On Wednesday, the House and Senate convened for a special joint session to receive the governor’s annual State of the State Address. Lawmakers gathered in the House Chamber to listen to Governor Parson share his priorities for the 2020 session.

Parson highlighted some of the accomplishments that he and the legislature were able to achieve in 2019. He pointed out that they were able to secure a $1.5 billion investment from General Motors that will keep good-paying jobs in the state and discussed the millions of dollars being invested to repair and rebuild many of Missouri’s aging bridges.

On Thursday my HCR 61 was heard in the Special Committee on Tourism. Bethany Braley was my guest and spoke to the committee on the Resolution. She did an excellent job on updating the committee on the progress of National Day of the Cowboy and explained the cultural, educational and economic benefits to Missouri passing this bill. Bethany also brought with her the National Day of the Cowboy Flag. This flag has traveled 5,700,000 miles to the International Space Station aboard the space shuttle Discovery and it was said by the Washington Post that the flag’s trip was “Bringing the Old Frontier into the New Frontier”.

To read the HCR 61 visit: https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HCR61&year=2020&code=R.

For more information on National Day of the cowboy check out their website and Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/National-Day-of-the-Cowboy-Preserve-the-Heritage-143980647838/?ref=ts.

https://nationaldayofthecowboy.com/.